Airplane.



A. ASTER.

AIRPLANE.

APPLICATION man MAH. l. :918.

Patented J an. 7, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

@wi/imma@ ww A. ASTER.

AIRPLANE.

APPLlcATloN FILED MAn.1,.w1e.

Patented Jan. 7, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

witwassen A. ASTER.

MRPLANE.

APPLICATIONTILED MAR 1| ISIH. 1,290,481

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3L GMM/v1 m Patented Jan. '7, 1919.

A. ASTER.

l AIRPLANE. I

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1. |918.

1 ,1290,48. Patented Jan. 7,1919.4

l@ wg l ulb qq. N\

r N wma/.peo M UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE. f

ANTHONY ASTER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

AI'EPLANE.

Specicatfon of Letters Patent.

YPatented J an. 7, 1919.

Application led March 1, 1918. Serial No. 219,838.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTHONY ASTER, a citizen of the United States,residingat Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York,,have invented new and useful Improvements `in Airplanes, of which.

the following is a specification.

This invention relates to airplanes and the construction hereinafterdescrlbed is particularly designed for use in the building andcontrollingoflarge flying machines adapted for transport purposes andfor covering long distances. One of the principal objects of the presentinvention is to arrange the suplifting power for a machine of largesize,y

porting planes in such manner that an increased number of planesniay beemployed in one machine thereby givmg the required which mustnecessarily be equipped with a plurality of en 'nes and propellers..

A further ob]ect of the inventlon 1s to providev a boat body or nacelleof streamline formation capable of carrying a large number of passengersor freight and capable of rising in flight from land or water andlanding either upon the ground or water.

One of the principal objects of the present j invention is to providenovel fore and aft balancing means, the same means belng utilized forincreasing the angle `of incidence of both the fore and aft grou sofplanes to 'enable the velocity of the mac 'ne to be controlled for thepurpose of effecting safe landings. y v

Another object of the invention is to pro-` vide means .forindependently varying the angle of incidence of thefore and aft groupsof supporting planes in order that the fore dependently controlling thefore and aft sets of supporting planes.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section on an enlarged scale showing aportion of the controlling means for varying the angle of incldenee ofthe fore and aft groups of planes.

In lcarrying out this invention, I employ a long narrow boat body ornacelle of streaml1ne formation, the same being provided at a suitablepoint in the bottom thereof with an angle or step 2 to facilitate risingfrom the water, the rear portion of the body in rearvof the step 2slanting upwardly as indicated at A3. The deck 4 of the body l is formedwith a number of port holes 5 which will be glazed and which will formobservation openings or windows as well as en trances ,and exits. Bylocating the port holes 5 in the deck 4, the interior of the hull w1llbe brilliantly illuminated. The boat body 1 will be of such dimensionsthat it .may contain a large number of passengers or a considerablequantity of freight. Supporting wheels 6 will be mounted under the boatbody 1 to enable a landing to be made upon the ground and also to enablethe ma- A chine to rise in Hight from the ground.

Located above the boat body 1' and in y spaced relation thereto is afuselage or up'- per body 7 in the forward portion of which `1s housedan engine 8 having its shaft 9 extending forwardly through the nose ofthe fuselage, said shaft having. a tractor screw or propeller 10 securedthereon. The fuselage 'I which, like the body 1, is of streamlineformation, also contains one or more fuel tanks 11 which are thus housedwithin the fuselage.

A forward' group of planes 12 are connected to the body 1 and thenacelle 7 three of such planes being shown, vand in rear of the planes12 an aft or'rear group of planes .13 is arranged. In the preferredembodiment of this part of the-invention, I employ three or more planes12 in the forward group and two or more planes in the aft group, therebeing one plane less in the rear group than in the forward group. Thisis done in order to prevent interference ofthe air currents acting onthe front planes andthe rear planes. In other'words the rear planes arein staggered or alternate arrangement with pivotally at the points withsaid struts and having an overhang in front thereof. In rear of thestruts 14, the trailing portions of the planes are connected by verticalrods 16 of special construction as will hereinafter appear. The rearplanes 13 are in like manner pivotally connected at 17 to their posts orstruts 18 and the rear portions or edges of the planes are connected bya vertical rod 19 of special formation. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5 therod 16 is threaded as shown at 20 and is engaged by a nut 21 threadedthereon and capable of being turned by means of a hand wheel 22 which isconnectedto the nut 21 by means of spokes 23. The nut 21 is held againstvertical movement by means of an annular keeper 24 secured to a bar 25of the machine frame. It will now be observed that by turning the wheel22 andthe nut 21, the rod 16 may bemoved upwardly or downwardly therebycorrespondingly elevating or depressing the trailing edges of the frontplanes-12 and changing the angle of incidence thereof. In like mannerthe shaft 19 is threaded and is engaged by a nut 26 formed integrallywith a sprocket wheel 27. Running around the sprocket wheel 27 is asprocket chain 28 which extends forwardly and passes around a sprocketwheel 29 on a sleeve 30 having fastened thereto a hand wheel 31 byturning which, the nut 26 may be turned for raising and lowering thethreaded rod 19. This has the effect of cor respondingly elevating anddepressing the leading edges of the rear planes 13. The shaft 16 isslidable freely through the sleeve 30 so that the adjustment of theangle of incidence of the front planes may be effected independently ofthe adjustment lof the angle of incidence of the rear planes. Thisprovides for controlling the fore and aft stability of the machine. Inmaking a landing, the speed of the machine may be materially reduced tothe point of safety by increasing .the angle of incidence by both thefront and rear groups of planes.

In addition tothe front engine 8 and its propeller 10, I. provide twoengines 32 which are arranged 1n rear of the front planes 12 andsupported by a suitable frame or brackets 33 at opposite sides of thefuselage 7 and equi-distantly therefrom. Each ofthe engines 32 has itsshaft 34 extending in a forward direction and a propeller 35 mountedgines or two or only one thereof may be operated at a time.

At the rear end of the fuselage 7, I mount a vertical rudder 36 having across head or arms 37 extending at right angles thereto. Operatingconnections or cables 38 arefsecured at their rear ends to the oppositeeX- tremities of thecross bar 37 and stays 39 are extendedfrom saidcross bar tothe trailing edge'of the vertical rudder 37. The connections38 extend forwardly and are attached to the opposite ends of a lever 40.The lever 40 is mounted on a vertical shaft 41 which extends downwardlyinto the na.

celle 7 and it has fast thereon a steering bar 42 under the control ofthe aviator. The nacelle 7 and the boat body 1 are connected by uprightstruts or posts 43 between which are inserted crossed stay wires orconnections 44 similar to the ordinary king trussing now used inaeroplane construction. One or more of the forward planes 12 will beprovided with ailerons or lateral balancing planes 43 in connection withsuitable controlling means convenient to theoperator. Lateral balancingfloats or pontoons 44 will be placed under the bottom plane 12 in orderto provide for the proper balancing of the `machine while resting on thesurface of the water or proceeding at a speed less than the planingspeed.

Fro'm the foregoing descr1ption taken in ings, it will now be seen thatI have provided an airplane structure which/is especially adapted forlarge machines intended to carry considerable weight either inpassengers or freight. The operator and all other occupants orpassengers are housed within a vstreamline body having awhydrolanesurface which will enable it to rise rom the water and to'land thereon.The construction .also provides for reducing the head resistance. of thecomplete structure, enabling the machine to be propelled at greatvelocity. Additional engines and propellers may be mounted on themachine if occasion demands and additional supporting planes may beAprovided in accordance with the -we1ght of the machine and the sizethereof.

I claim 1. `In an airplane, the combination of` a.

posts securing said planes to the boat body and fuselage and having saidplanes pivotally connected thereto between the leading andztrailingedges of the planes, a substantlallyvertlcal rod connecting the planesof each group at one side of theposts thereof,

connection withthe accompanying draw-v each of said rods being threaded,and manually controlled means embodying nuts having a threadedengagement with said rods for moving said rods upwardly and down- WaQrdytochange the "angle of incidence.

anairplane, the. combination of aboat body of streamline formation, afuselage of streamline formation located above and inA spaced relationto the boat body, front and rear groups of supportinglplanes pivotallymounted 1n relation to t body and fuselage, a threaded rod connectedwith the trailin edges of the planes of the front group, a t readed rodconnected with the trailing edges of the planes of the group in rear ofthe front planes, hand controlled means on the first named rod formoving the latter' upwardly and downwardly to chan e the angle ofincidence of the planes of vte front group, a nut threaded on the secondrod for moving the latter upwardly and downwardly to change the angle ofincldence of the planes of the second group, and hand e boat fcontrolled means on said first named rod for operating said nut, wherebythe angle of incidence of the front and rear oul s of planes may bevaried independent y o each other.- A

3'. In an airplane, thecombination of a boat body of streamlineformation, a superimposed fuselage of streamline formation in spacedrelation to said boat b ody, means rigidly connecting said body andfuselage, front. and rear groups of support planes connected with saidbody and fuse age, an engine housed within said fuselage, a tractorpropeller driven thereby and arranged in advance of `the front group vofplanes, engines arranged in rear of the front group of planes -and atopposite sides of and-equidistantl from the fusela e, and propellersdriven y the last name enginesand arranged behind the trailing edges ofAthe planes of the front group.

*In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

- ANTHONY ASTER.

